Knappa win
streak hits 21
The Coastal
Edge
WEEKEND
EDITION
SPORTS • 8A
FRIDAY EXTRA • 1C
FRIDAY, MAY 15, 2015
142nd YEAR, No. 228
ONE DOLLAR
Kidnap ordeal ends, police nab fugitive
He was found behind a locked
gate in a privately owned wood-
ed area south of Cannon Beach.
Russell Wayne Deviney, the
A passer-by saw Deviney and
(YHUHWW :DVK PDQ DFFXVHG RI called the Cannon Beach Police
kidnapping a 15-year-old Cali- Department.
fornia girl Saturday, was caught
When Deviney was asked his
Thursday just outside Cannon name, he simply said, “I’m the
Beach.
guy you’re looking for.”
Cannon Beach Police and
Deviney is being charged with
FBI agents arrested Deviney, 48, ¿UVWGHJUHHNLGQDSSLQJ¿UVWGH
at about 11:15 a.m.
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By KYLE SPURR
The Daily Astorian
Astoria Police
Chief Brad
Johnston
speaks at a
press confer-
ence regarding
the arrest of
Russell Devin-
ey Thursday.
JOSHUA BESSEX
The Daily Astorian
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VRGRP\ DQG ¿UVWGHJUHH VH[XDO
abuse.
A nationwide felony warrant
had been issued out of Clatsop
County Circuit Court for his ar-
rest.
“We cannot go into specif-
ic details about the informa-
tion we’ve obtained during
See SUSPECT, Page 10A
Russell
Deviney
A
kick
National park hikes fees
in the
wallet
Lewis and Clark
entrance fees go
from $3 to $5
By KYLE SPURR
The Daily Astorian
Visitors to Lewis and Clark Na-
tional Historical Park will notice a
slight increase in entrance fees next
year.
Beginning Jan. 1, visitor en-
trance fees at the national park will
increase from $3 to $5 per person.
The annual pass will increase from
$10 to $20 per person.
The fee increase, which was
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directive from the National Park
Service to update entrance fees at
131 of its 401 public properties for
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Scott Tucker, Lewis and Clark
National Historical Park superin-
tendent, calls the change a modest
increase considering the original
NPS proposal was to hike day-use
fees from $3 to $10 and annual fees
from $10 to $40.
“After carefully considering the
impact of a fee increase on visitors
and community members, we came
to the conclusion that this is the
right course of action to improve
facilities and services important to
visitors,” Tucker said.
The park received 80 com-
ments during a monthlong public
comment period that ended in De-
cember. Of the 80 comments, three
were fully supportive of the in-
crease, 40 wanted a lower increase
and 37 were not supportive. Based
on the input, Tucker recommended
the lowest possible increase to the
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warded it to Washington, D.C.
Tucker received word that his
recommendation was approved and
will go into effect next year. Other
national park fee increases will be-
gin as early as Memorial Day.
Taxpayers to get
$473 million kicker;
state gets $264 million
more to spend
By PETER WONG
Capital Bureau
JOSHUA BESSEX — The Daily Astorian
Visitor fee increases will be used for improving roads and trails — including the Fort to Sea Trail shown
here— and help fund handicap accessibility at Lewis and Clark National Historic Park.
Visitor experience
Submitted photo
Doug Graham, with the National Park Service, works on the historic
steel fence panels at the Salt Works in Seaside Jan. 22. The panels
were removed and taken to a local metal fabrication shop, where they
were sandblasted, areas of corrosion rebuilt, galvanized, and painted.
The increase will not impact
the America the Beautiful Nation-
al Parks and Federal Recreation-
al pass, senior, access or military
passes. Children under 16 are al-
ready admitted free.
Tucker said all revenue from the
visitor fees goes toward projects
directly tied to the visitor’s experi-
ence at the park.
For instance, renovating his of-
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fees, Tucker said, but improving
trails and roads would be a focus of
visitor revenue.
Previous fee-based projects
included the Kwis Kwis Trail ex-
tension and South Slough Trail
construction, canoe landing im-
provements at Netul Landing, sum-
mer camps, local youth employ-
ment and community outreach.
Annually, the park brings in
about $125,000 from visitor fees.
The upcoming fee increase would
add $50,000 annually to the park.
The additional funds will be used
for upkeep at the Fort to Sea Trail,
See FEES, Page 10A
Warrenton faces steep rate jumps
City had put off double-
digit water, sewer hikes
was approved for
this year.
The city’s re-
luctance to agree
By DERRICK DePLEDGE
to more signif-
The Daily Astorian
icant rate hikes
was exacerbated
:$55(1721 ² 6K\LQJ DZD\
by the loss of wa-
from politically unpopular water and
ter revenue over
sewer rate increases has caught up with
the past few years
Warrenton, where the proposed city
DIWHU D 3DFL¿F
Kurt
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Coast Seafoods
Fritsch
hikes.
processing plant
Water rates would go up 15 percent. burned down and Camp Rilea and Gear-
Sewer rates would rise 2.5 percent. A hart turned to other sources.
storm sewer service fee would double
“We’re playing catch up from what
to 20 percent of a customer’s sewer ZHZHUHDGYLVHGWRGR¿YHDQGVL[\HDUV
charge, up from 10 percent.
ago,” City Manager Kurt Fritsch said at a
A household that uses 4,000 gallons city budget committee meeting Thursday
of water a month would pay $115.28, QLJKW³$QG,UHDOL]HLW¶VGLI¿FXOWWRGRWKDW
DFFRUGLQJ WR FLW\ ¿QDQFH VWDII FRP politically every year and people don’t
pared with $104.86 today.
like to see these increases.”
Rate studies had recommended dou-
Fritsch suggested the city consider
ble-digit increases to help pay for the new water and sewer rate studies that
city’s water infrastructure. But the city might provide a road map for future in-
had mostly opted for a more conservative creases.
track until a 10 percent water rate hike
Some residents had complained last
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year about rate increases and could be
stunned by the recommendations in the
budget.
“My concern is that I just don’t want to
see 15 percent (rate increases) every sin-
gle year,” said Paul Mitchell, a spokesman
for Columbia Memorial Hospital who
serves on the budget committee.
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way to sell the story, make sure people
understand it so they’re not just feeling
that you’re shoving it down their throats.”
He said residents need to have own-
ership in the reasons behind the rate in-
creases. “Give them ownership of it,” he
said. “If they have ownership, it won’t
be as hard to swallow it. They’ll under-
stand it more.”
Overall, the proposed city budget for
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PLOOLRQXSIURPPLOOLRQWKLV¿V
cal year.
The city budget committee, which
will meet again Thursday, will make a
recommendation to the City Commis-
sion. The commission is expected to
take up the spending plan in June.
State economists are projecting
both a $473 million rebate to taxpay-
ers next year and up to $264 million
more for the state budget in the next
two years.
“There is a substantial improve-
ment in the Oregon economy,” said
Josh Lehner, senior economist with
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Analysis.
He and state economist Mark
McMullen presented Thursday what
McMullen called “an aggressive
forecast” to lawmakers on the House
and Senate revenue committees.
The additional $264 million is
likely to fuel spending on schools
and state services.
Although Democratic majorities
pushed through a state school fund
of $7.3 billion in April, Republican
minorities and school advocates say
the fund should be at least $7.5 bil-
lion.
When lawmakers passed that
budget, they also committed at least
40 percent of any additional money
from the forecast to schools. That
amounts to $105 million, not count-
ing anything else lawmakers may do.
As soon as McMullen started
explaining the kicker projection, a
group of students started chanting,
“No kicker, no cuts, no ifs, ands or
buts.”
Oregon State Police escorted
them out of the hearing room, and
eight of them were arrested later as
they continued chanting in a hallway
and declined to disperse.
Projected kicker
The rebate to individual taxpay-
ers, known as the “kicker,” is a result
of actual tax collections exceeding
2013 projections by 2 percent or
more. The projected amount is $473
million, up from $349 million in the
See KICKER, Page 10A
Everyday
People
MONDAY
College captain